September 20, 2025 • 9 mins
Liam Lawson has brushed off bad weather and skirted six separate crashes to deliver his best qualifying effort at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Only Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc pipped Lawson, who says his goal was to stay on track as much as possible.
NZ Herald motorsport journalist Alex Powell joined Piney to discuss.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks ed B about Max.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Vers Stafford fastest of anybody in the first sector. Half
a second up already Laws It pops it up into
second He's only a tenth away. And the racing bulls
as antinaty can't pit the racing balls of the Kiwi
Max for Stafford up into eighth gear to the top
and porel position for Max for Stafford.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Here in Baku, Liam Lawson wanna Dryam Lawson at Carlos
site on the Frondra.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
What a good hit we've gone for tomorrow. It has
been eighteen thousand, eight hundred and eighty days since a
New Zealander last stood on a Formula One podium. That
could change as early as tomorrow morning, though, as William
Lawson qualified third for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, more than
fifty one years on from Denny Holm winning the Argentine
(01:02):
Grand Prix in nineteen seventy four, Lawson will start on
the second row at the Baku City Circuit as the
best qualifying result of his Formula one career so far.
Those are the opening few lines of the article. We
woke to this morning on enz heerl dot co dot nz,
written by motorsport expert and journalist Alex Powell. Alex should
(01:24):
call it a chaotic qualifying session? Can you explain that
to us afternoon?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Piney you checks in the mail for reading that intro out.
I mean to be short. There were six red flags
through the three qualifying sessions, which is just the most
that there has ever been in a single Formula one
qualifying session. The previous record was five, which had happened twice.
But to go six, six drivers basically hit the wall
and ruin their own session and any chance of qualifying
(01:52):
as something good as they can, and that just left
anyone who didn't hit the wall having to sort of
start stopping and going to try and get their own
laps in.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
How much then did that play into Liam Lawson's hands.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
It's a very interesting question because obviously that last session
Q three had both Charlotte Clerk of Ferrari and Osco
Pastre hit the wall and trigger separate red flags. So
that time there was suspecion that was going to start
raining and had started to drizzle, and what both leam
laws and Isser Cadjo's Teama had done was they got
him set an early lap and then the clerk at
(02:25):
the wall red flag as the rain sudd to fall,
and that basically meant had it kept raining, no one
will be able to better those times, unfortunately or unfortunately rather,
while they were waiting for the red flag to clear,
the rain stopped and then so that was sort of like,
well will they be able to keep these times up?
And then what lem Laws actually was he came out
and bettered that time anyway, So to say it's down
(02:45):
to the red flags would just be a complete fabrication.
This was all his merit.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So I mean, this is tremendous, isn't it. You know,
he's had a steadily improving season from what most of
us can see. This this is terrific, isn't it To
qualify third on the starting grid?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Absolutely it is. I mean it's his best as oh
it's racing balls, equal best result after Yuki Sinoda did
it in Brazil last year. But as Liam Lawson will
be the first one to point out, you don't get
any points for qualifying, you don't get any points of practice.
But the positive areas that he has been rapid all weekend.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Tell us about the track then, and what Liam will
have to do to retain or even improve his group position.
Are there lots of opportunities for others to pass him
or for him to pass or what's the what's the
course like so.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Back who is a very interesting track. Sector is one,
so it's a traditional sort of street track, which means
you sort of think, okay, it's going to be tight
for me, narrow, there's not going to be too many
opportunities to pass. Sector one and two would definitely like that.
Sector one. There is a lot of sort of ninety
degree turns which you can't sort of take at full toddle,
and that's where a lot of guys ran into trouble
heading the warm and getting those red flags. Sector three, though,
(03:54):
is flat out you get the very long back straight
where you do have a lot of opportunity to overpass,
to overtake rather and I think promisingly for Len Lawson,
he was the quickest through Sector three in both of
the Friday sessions. I haven't actually looked at last night
because I was just too wrapped up in getting a
story to get it. But there are definitely good signs
that he will be able to potentially move up. However,
(04:14):
he does have maxistappen in front of them, So whether
or not he'll be able to get around his former teammate,
I would be very doubtful, but there is definitely enough
there for him to have a very good result tonight.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
He hasn't raised Formula one on the circuit, but he
does have Formula two experience here, so.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I mean, funnily enough, has lasted with the Tobacco back
in twenty twenty two he did get third. I think
he qualified a bit further down, was able to pull
off some overtakes during that sort of sprint race. So yeah,
it's not a circuit where he's underprepared for anything like that.
He does have the experience on it, which I think
has already shown over the last couple of days.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I guess when you look at at a grid in
Formula one at the moment, you expect to see the
McLaren's up there near the front, Lando Norris seventh, oscar
Ps three ninth on the grid. That doesn't really help Liam,
does it Having the two fastest cars behind.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
No, But I mean we've seen Lando Norris be quick
on the Friday and the little bit and the third
and final practice yesterday, But McLaren have sort of battled
not just this week, we think to the last race
as well at Monza, trying to be able to be
fast on these sort of low downforce circuits where you
basically can just fly like and that's why we've seen
Maxistaffer come into it with two pole positions in a row.
(05:29):
And of course the win at Monza, whether or not
the McLaren's will have the race pace to get around
enough traffic to overtake Lan Wilson, I wouldn't be too
surprised because they are just two very fast cars. But
also let's not forget we've got Isaac Hadgard down in
P eight Sandwich between them. So I mean, if he
can play the team game the way Lanlilson did for
him and Monaco, he should be able to at least,
(05:50):
or hope you be able to at least keep Piastre
off his back.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
We always looked on we thought Isaac had yarb because
you are continually telling me that we need to compare
Liam against his teammate. Others are as well, but some
of them not as as stude as you. So how
did Isaac go? And you know is it like, is
Liam a better driver than Isaac Hadja.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
It's hard to say Hagi didn't do too flashy. He
didn't so other than Q one last night, Limb has
been faster than Hajar all weekend. Whether or not that's
down to experience Abaku, who knows Haji did complain about
the high winds during qualifying. Is lim a better driver?
It's the window is such a it's such a small
(06:31):
sample szed to compare, and Hagi does have the better results.
But whether or not that's down to the blow that
Limb's taken to his confidence after what's happened this year
or not, it's probably for him to say.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Yuki Sonoda's had an unhappy time, hasn't he since he
took over the second Red Bull seat? But he had
a He's what six on the grid, that's a that's
a rare top team for hims. They'd be reasonably happy.
What are Yuki Sonoda?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yuki Snow's actually had quite a weird season. So the
issues with being Maxi Stappins team over the last couple
of years we saw with Sergio Periz and I mean
two races with Lim Lawson was that they actually qualified
really poorly. The race pace was there, Yuki Snow's another
way around. He doesn't actually qualify that badly. He just
goes backwards in the race. So whether or not he
is still six come the check and flag tonight will
(07:15):
be very interesting to see. But like we saw it Monza,
he went backwards and ended up tangling with laws and
sort of ruined his own race.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Question for you on text, here can max the stap
and still win the driver's title mathematically?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I'm sure he probably could. I have not done those sums, however,
I would be amazed if McLaren continued to have runs
like this where they're not consistently scoring at the front
of the grid to drop enough points that opened it
for this happened, but you never know. This is motorsport
all right.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Back to Liam then to finish. If he does in
fact get on the podium, how should we regard that achievement?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Ah, I mean it would be fantastic for him. That's
you first and foremost. So I mean, in isolation, it's great,
it's has best results until it's not. In the year
obviously gets a chance to better it. I think if
he can do it from where he is now, on
hold P three or even improve. I think it would
be one of the sporting stories of the year, just
because of the context of what's gone into everything that's
(08:11):
happened to him this year.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
All right, well, well, we will certainly be watching eleven
o'clock start tonight New Zealand time. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah? Early one?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
And how long does a race normally takes? So I
think people who want to push through, so how long
will they have to stay up for a couple of hours?
Speaker 4 (08:29):
About an hour and a half normally if there's no
red flags, iuch mean, there's no guarantee. We might have
seen them all last night. But if anyone feel about
heading the wall, I imagine that will delay things a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
All right, manageable then manageable. I noticed that you were
still filing your stories at about half past two this morning,
so I appreciate you you're getting up and having a yard
to us. Look forward to reading your race analysis on
the Herald website in the paper in the next twenty
four hours or saying thanks for your time, yes, Bunny,
Well the best. Alex pale Reata at enziherld dot co
dot nz a Studo Motive Sport analysis eleven o'clock tonight
(09:00):
the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson starting from third
on the grip that is the highest he's ever qualified.
Max for Stappen and Carlos Signs are on the front
row of the grid in Red Bull and William's respectively,
Kimmy and Toonelli and the Mercedes alongside Liam Lawson is fourth,
then George Russell, Yuki Sonoda, Orlando Norris, the first of
(09:21):
the McLaren's, Isaac Hadger, Liam Lawson's racing Balls, teammate Oscar
Piastre and charl Leclair in the Ferrari making up the
top ten.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, Listen live
to News Talk sed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talks ed B about Max.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Vers Stafford fastest of anybody in the first sector. Half
a second up already Laws It pops it up into
second He's only a tenth away. And the racing bulls
as antinaty can't pit the racing balls of the Kiwi
Max for Stafford up into eighth gear to the top
and porel position for Max for Stafford.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Here in Baku, Liam Lawson wanna Dryam Lawson at Carlos
site on the Frondra.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
What a good hit we've gone for tomorrow. It has
been eighteen thousand, eight hundred and eighty days since a
New Zealander last stood on a Formula One podium. That
could change as early as tomorrow morning, though, as William
Lawson qualified third for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, more than
fifty one years on from Denny Holm winning the Argentine
(01:02):
Grand Prix in nineteen seventy four, Lawson will start on
the second row at the Baku City Circuit as the
best qualifying result of his Formula one career so far.
Those are the opening few lines of the article. We
woke to this morning on enz heerl dot co dot nz,
written by motorsport expert and journalist Alex Powell. Alex should
(01:24):
call it a chaotic qualifying session? Can you explain that
to us afternoon?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
Piney you checks in the mail for reading that intro out.
I mean to be short. There were six red flags
through the three qualifying sessions, which is just the most
that there has ever been in a single Formula one
qualifying session. The previous record was five, which had happened twice.
But to go six, six drivers basically hit the wall
and ruin their own session and any chance of qualifying
(01:52):
as something good as they can, and that just left
anyone who didn't hit the wall having to sort of
start stopping and going to try and get their own
laps in.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
How much then did that play into Liam Lawson's hands.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
It's a very interesting question because obviously that last session
Q three had both Charlotte Clerk of Ferrari and Osco
Pastre hit the wall and trigger separate red flags. So
that time there was suspecion that was going to start
raining and had started to drizzle, and what both leam
laws and Isser Cadjo's Teama had done was they got
him set an early lap and then the clerk at
(02:25):
the wall red flag as the rain sudd to fall,
and that basically meant had it kept raining, no one
will be able to better those times, unfortunately or unfortunately rather,
while they were waiting for the red flag to clear,
the rain stopped and then so that was sort of like,
well will they be able to keep these times up?
And then what lem Laws actually was he came out
and bettered that time anyway, So to say it's down
(02:45):
to the red flags would just be a complete fabrication.
This was all his merit.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So I mean, this is tremendous, isn't it. You know,
he's had a steadily improving season from what most of
us can see. This this is terrific, isn't it To
qualify third on the starting grid?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Absolutely it is. I mean it's his best as oh
it's racing balls, equal best result after Yuki Sinoda did
it in Brazil last year. But as Liam Lawson will
be the first one to point out, you don't get
any points for qualifying, you don't get any points of practice.
But the positive areas that he has been rapid all weekend.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Tell us about the track then, and what Liam will
have to do to retain or even improve his group position.
Are there lots of opportunities for others to pass him
or for him to pass or what's the what's the
course like so.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Back who is a very interesting track. Sector is one,
so it's a traditional sort of street track, which means
you sort of think, okay, it's going to be tight
for me, narrow, there's not going to be too many
opportunities to pass. Sector one and two would definitely like that.
Sector one. There is a lot of sort of ninety
degree turns which you can't sort of take at full toddle,
and that's where a lot of guys ran into trouble
heading the warm and getting those red flags. Sector three, though,
(03:54):
is flat out you get the very long back straight
where you do have a lot of opportunity to overpass,
to overtake rather and I think promisingly for Len Lawson,
he was the quickest through Sector three in both of
the Friday sessions. I haven't actually looked at last night
because I was just too wrapped up in getting a
story to get it. But there are definitely good signs
that he will be able to potentially move up. However,
(04:14):
he does have maxistappen in front of them, So whether
or not he'll be able to get around his former teammate,
I would be very doubtful, but there is definitely enough
there for him to have a very good result tonight.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
He hasn't raised Formula one on the circuit, but he
does have Formula two experience here, so.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I mean, funnily enough, has lasted with the Tobacco back
in twenty twenty two he did get third. I think
he qualified a bit further down, was able to pull
off some overtakes during that sort of sprint race. So yeah,
it's not a circuit where he's underprepared for anything like that.
He does have the experience on it, which I think
has already shown over the last couple of days.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I guess when you look at at a grid in
Formula one at the moment, you expect to see the
McLaren's up there near the front, Lando Norris seventh, oscar
Ps three ninth on the grid. That doesn't really help Liam,
does it Having the two fastest cars behind.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
No, But I mean we've seen Lando Norris be quick
on the Friday and the little bit and the third
and final practice yesterday, But McLaren have sort of battled
not just this week, we think to the last race
as well at Monza, trying to be able to be
fast on these sort of low downforce circuits where you
basically can just fly like and that's why we've seen
Maxistaffer come into it with two pole positions in a row.
(05:29):
And of course the win at Monza, whether or not
the McLaren's will have the race pace to get around
enough traffic to overtake Lan Wilson, I wouldn't be too
surprised because they are just two very fast cars. But
also let's not forget we've got Isaac Hadgard down in
P eight Sandwich between them. So I mean, if he
can play the team game the way Lanlilson did for
him and Monaco, he should be able to at least,
(05:50):
or hope you be able to at least keep Piastre
off his back.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
We always looked on we thought Isaac had yarb because
you are continually telling me that we need to compare
Liam against his teammate. Others are as well, but some
of them not as as stude as you. So how
did Isaac go? And you know is it like, is
Liam a better driver than Isaac Hadja.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
It's hard to say Hagi didn't do too flashy. He
didn't so other than Q one last night, Limb has
been faster than Hajar all weekend. Whether or not that's
down to experience Abaku, who knows Haji did complain about
the high winds during qualifying. Is lim a better driver?
It's the window is such a it's such a small
(06:31):
sample szed to compare, and Hagi does have the better results.
But whether or not that's down to the blow that
Limb's taken to his confidence after what's happened this year
or not, it's probably for him to say.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Yuki Sonoda's had an unhappy time, hasn't he since he
took over the second Red Bull seat? But he had
a He's what six on the grid, that's a that's
a rare top team for hims. They'd be reasonably happy.
What are Yuki Sonoda?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Yuki Snow's actually had quite a weird season. So the
issues with being Maxi Stappins team over the last couple
of years we saw with Sergio Periz and I mean
two races with Lim Lawson was that they actually qualified
really poorly. The race pace was there, Yuki Snow's another
way around. He doesn't actually qualify that badly. He just
goes backwards in the race. So whether or not he
is still six come the check and flag tonight will
(07:15):
be very interesting to see. But like we saw it Monza,
he went backwards and ended up tangling with laws and
sort of ruined his own race.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Question for you on text, here can max the stap
and still win the driver's title mathematically?
Speaker 4 (07:27):
I'm sure he probably could. I have not done those sums, however,
I would be amazed if McLaren continued to have runs
like this where they're not consistently scoring at the front
of the grid to drop enough points that opened it
for this happened, but you never know. This is motorsport
all right.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Back to Liam then to finish. If he does in
fact get on the podium, how should we regard that achievement?
Speaker 4 (07:49):
Ah, I mean it would be fantastic for him. That's
you first and foremost. So I mean, in isolation, it's great,
it's has best results until it's not. In the year
obviously gets a chance to better it. I think if
he can do it from where he is now, on
hold P three or even improve. I think it would
be one of the sporting stories of the year, just
because of the context of what's gone into everything that's
(08:11):
happened to him this year.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
All right, well, well, we will certainly be watching eleven
o'clock start tonight New Zealand time. Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah? Early one?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
And how long does a race normally takes? So I
think people who want to push through, so how long
will they have to stay up for a couple of hours?
Speaker 4 (08:29):
About an hour and a half normally if there's no
red flags, iuch mean, there's no guarantee. We might have
seen them all last night. But if anyone feel about
heading the wall, I imagine that will delay things a
little bit.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
All right, manageable then manageable. I noticed that you were
still filing your stories at about half past two this morning,
so I appreciate you you're getting up and having a yard
to us. Look forward to reading your race analysis on
the Herald website in the paper in the next twenty
four hours or saying thanks for your time, yes, Bunny,
Well the best. Alex pale Reata at enziherld dot co
dot nz a Studo Motive Sport analysis eleven o'clock tonight
(09:00):
the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson starting from third
on the grip that is the highest he's ever qualified.
Max for Stappen and Carlos Signs are on the front
row of the grid in Red Bull and William's respectively,
Kimmy and Toonelli and the Mercedes alongside Liam Lawson is fourth,
then George Russell, Yuki Sonoda, Orlando Norris, the first of
(09:21):
the McLaren's, Isaac Hadger, Liam Lawson's racing Balls, teammate Oscar
Piastre and charl Leclair in the Ferrari making up the
top ten.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, Listen live
to News Talk sed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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